With a wave of the pen, Superintendent Tommy McClellan signs on behalf of the School Board to purchase an 80 acre site from Marc and Terri Choulat (standing) as Judy Downum of Downum Title Services looks on.

It’s official! The Calhoun County School Board has purchased land to build a new Blountstown High School.

School Superintendent Tommy McClellan met Marc Choulat and his sister, Terri, at Downum Title Services last Wednesday where he signed on behalf of the School Board to purchase the Choulat’s property on Hwy. 69 at Mason Road. The 80 acre site, that sold for $539,493, will be the location for the new BHS. Joining McClellan and the Choulats at the closing were School Board member Danny Hassig (district 5) and Greg Bailey of Bailey, Bishop & Lane, who has done much of the preliminary work on the project.

“I’m excited we’ve got the land paid for and now we can start improvements so we can get construction underway,” says McClellan. He estimates construction will begin around September or October.

The School Board held a special meeting Monday night and selected Culpepper Construction of Tallahassee to build the new school. “We have to negotiate with them,” McClellan explains. “We’re putting a contract together.”

Over in Tallahassee, legislators have approved the special facilities funding request to build the new school. Now administrators are holding their breath until the end of May - the deadline for Governor Charlie Crist to approve or veto any budget items. McClellan remains hopeful that all will go as planned, “The governor has never vetoed a school project before,” he remarks.

Proviso language allowing the School Board to be reimbursed for prior expenses toward the project was also included. “We really want to thank State Represntative Marti Coley and Senator Al Lawson for helping us secure those funds,” says McClellan. “They really went to bat for us. Spessard Boatright, head of facilities with the Dept. of Education, bent over backwards to help us. He really wanted us to get this money. We’ve also had the City of Blountstown and county commissioners work with us, too.”